Villanova Basketball 2023-24 sport preview: Georgetown Hoyas – VU Hoops

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Villanova will get its first crack on the new-look, however still-struggling Hoyas on Friday night time.
After getting again on monitor with a dominant all-around efficiency in opposition to Seton Corridor, Villanova is headed all the way down to Washington D.C. for its first look of the season in opposition to Georgetown, who’s been caught in impartial — possibly even reverse — for the complete season.
The Wildcats bounced again from an anticlimactic and disappointing end at Xavier with a beatdown of the Pirates, which helped them break a latest skid. They’ll attempt to construct on that momentum, although, and present it wasn’t a one-time deal. The latest win over Seton Corridor gave Villanova its first win after dropping six of its final seven to enhance to 13-11 total and 6-7 in Massive East play.
As for Georgetown, the Hoyas are limping in with an 8-16 document, which features a 1-12 mark in convention play. Their lone win in Massive East competitors got here in opposition to DePaul, which locks them in at tenth place within the convention. Georgetown has misplaced every of its final 9 video games since.
Friday’s sport is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
Throughout the offseason, when the Hoyas had been in a position to efficiently coax Ed Cooley to depart Windfall and are available to Georgetown, there was a quick jolt of pleasure.
Cooley made some huge strikes instantly after his rent, getting Jayden Epps (Illinois) and Dontrez Kinds (North Carolina) to switch over.
Epps leads the Hoyas with a team-best 17.6 factors and 4.3 assists per sport. Whereas he’s been up-and-down as of late on the scoring finish, he has confirmed to be harmful when he heats up. Epps has dropped 30 factors or extra in 4 totally different outings this season.
Kinds is true behind him, with 13.5 factors and 5.8 rebounds per sport. He’s additionally barely extra environment friendly from the perimeter than Epps, taking pictures 36.7% from past the arc.
Supreme Prepare dinner has additionally been one other productive switch, which he proved after a few standout seasons within the MAAC at Fairfield. Prepare dinner is Georgetown’s prime rebounder, averaging 8.2 boards per sport, whereas additionally chipping in 11.7 factors per sport. He’s an old-school huge man: one which operates nicely inside however can’t wrestle on the free-throw line and may’t hit a three-pointer.
Prepare dinner averages 11.7 factors and eight.2 rebounds per sport, whereas taking pictures 62.3% on the ground and 55.8% from the free-throw line.
Jay Heath is a holdover that performs an enormous half on the staff and averages 8.5 factors per sport.
Whereas these are the names to look at (and a few of these gamers have discovered particular person success since transferring over), nothing has translated to a team-wide degree. The Hoyas have misplaced every of their final three video games at house by 20 factors or extra. They continue to be within the basement of the Massive East, alongside DePaul.
In line with KenPom, Georgetown is ranked No. 96 in offensive effectivity, however they’re a staggering 311st out of 362 Division I groups in defensive effectivity.
Whereas Cooley has coached some powerful groups and squads which have given Villanova some critical battles in recent times, it doesn’t seem that his message or type has translated instantly in his first yr.
The Hoyas permit groups to shoot 56.5% contained in the arc (356th within the nation) and 34.4% from deep (228th).
This may very well be one other confidence-boosting efficiency for ‘Nova, who noticed the ball undergo the basket loads of occasions in opposition to Seton Corridor. So long as they will join, this sport may very well be one other high-scoring outing for the ‘Cats.
Georgetown additionally has a low defensive rebounding price, coming into at simply 31.8%, which is nice for 291st within the nation.
Whereas Epps is harmful offensively, he’s a little bit of a quantity scorer. As a staff, the Hoyas are ranked 303rd in scoring contained in the arc and about common from deep. Additionally they wrestle with turnovers, coughing the ball up on 18.0% of possessions.
One constructive for the Hoyas is that they’re nice on the offensive glass and rank No. 45 in offensive rebounding price. The ‘Cats might want to you’ll want to field out.
Whereas rivalry video games could be unpredictable at occasions, the ‘Cats ought to — on paper — run away with this sport.
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